Some of the Northeast’s most significant ski resort offseason projects are happening in the Granite State. Attitash is finally replacing the Summit Triple, Cranmore is building a new base lodge, Gunstock is improving its lodges, Loon Mountain is expanding its terrain over at South Peak, and Whaleback is adding a new surface lift that will service its racing trail and terrain park.
This past weekend, I went up to Lincoln and North Conway to check out the progress on projects over at Loon Mountain Resort & Cranmore Mountain Resort. While I originally intended to make it to the other major White Mountains off-season project over at Attitash, I ran out of time. I’m doing this in chronological order, so I’ll be covering Loon first.
Loon: Over at Loon, they’re adding a large amount of mellower terrain over at South Peak. The terrain expansion will add beginner and intermediate terrain to South Peak. The thirty-acre expansion is pivotal for Loon, increasing their beginner terrain by 50%. It also makes reaching Loon all the more convenient, as it’s only located 1.5 miles from I-93. The new terrain pod will be serviced by a Doppelmayr Alpenstar 4-CLF (fixed-grip, not a high-speed) chairlift with a loading conveyor.
In the Escape Route parking lot, you’ll see the chairs that will eventually be put on the chairlift.
To witness the progress on the terrain pod, it’s easily viewable from Crooked Mountain Road (please don’t walk into the area though, as it’s an active construction site). Much of the work on the chairlift has already been completed. The terminals and lift towers have been installed. When I was there, the haul rope was on the lift, with it being spliced sometime soon.
Most of the trails have been graded, but there’s one run that’s closest to Crooked Mountain Road that still needs some blasting and excavation work.
Cranmore: Over the past couple of years, Cranmore has seen a new real estate development, the refurbishment of the Skimobile Express Quad, a new lodge that’s next to its tubing and summer activity center, the opening of the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott, and becoming part of the Mount Washington Valley Recreation Path. I haven’t been to Cranmore in around six years and was blown away by how much has changed.
Their main offseason project is the construction of a building that will be home to Cranmore’s base lodge and more real estate units. The first two floors of the Fairbank Lodge will be dedicated to Cranmore’s new day base lodge, while the upper two levels will contain condominiums.
Most of the work to the exterior has been finished, with only a few more sidings and windows needing to be installed. From what I could see, there is a decent amount of work to still do on the inside.
I could also see that Cranmore has broken ground on another real estate development. Called The Lookout, only minimal progress has been made so far. Cranmore noted in an August 1st press release that their construction work is starting in earnest this month.
Both projects at Cranmore & Loon are expected to open during the 2023-24 season.
Image Credits: Loon Mountain Resort (Header Image), Ian Wood
